Former Republican state Rep. Richard Fale has pleaded no contest in District Court for failing to file a complete and accurate candidate committee report, the state Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday.
Under the terms of a plea agreement, Fale, who once represented Waiahole, Sunset Beach, Punaluu and Kaaawa, was fined $500, will pay $1,000 to the Crime Victim Compensation Fund and must publish an apology on his campaign’s social media webpage.
At the July 1 hearing, Honolulu District Judge Lono Lee granted Fale’s request for a deferred acceptance of plea.
In 2014 Fale lost a bid to serve in the state Senate to former House Rep. Gilbert Riviere.
Woman pleads not guilty to murder charge
HILO >> A woman charged with the 2009 slaying of a 21-year-old woman who was shot in her Hawaii island home has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Patricia Wong, also known as Patricia Hanoa, entered her plea to second-degree murder Tuesday in the death of Kaycee Maile Smith. She has been released on $250,000 bond, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Tuesday.
Wong had been extradited from Las Vegas, where she was arrested by U.S. marshals last month after a grand jury determined she “knowingly or intentionally” caused Smith’s death.
Smith was found dead in her living room on June 23, 2009, from a single gunshot wound to the head. Authorities haven’t said what led to the killing, but police say the crime scene had been altered to make the death appear to have been a suicide.
Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara set the trial for Oct. 31.